Given its roll-out is scheduled sometime between April and June, there's plenty we still don't know about the GREE Platform.

Indeed, the extent of the revealed facts are it will combine the existing OpenFeint network and GREE's Japanese-only platform into what's described as a global, single sign-on fully borderless system.

It's no surprise then that SVP marketing and developer relations Eros Resmini is tight-lipped when it comes to the specifics. Still, he's happy to talk generally about the new deployment.

"The GREE Platform is conceptually like OpenFeint, but it's more of a social experience," he says.

"You could think of OpenFeint as being more like Xbox Live in terms of its focus on competition."

Cash flows

Another difference with the GREE Platform is that it's built around the free-to-play business model, something OpenFeint supported with its OFX program but was never specifically designed for.

Key to this will be a hard currency system, something that will be locked to individual games in the case of iOS titles (due to Apple's restrictions), but be a true cross platform virtual currency on Android, as it is on GREE's existing Japanese network.

GREE will make its money by taking a cut of transactions; something that's expected to be in the range of 15 - 30 percent depending on the size of company and how early you sign up to the platform.

Flexible friend

Yet Resmini is keen to point out that the platform is designed for game developers.

"Developers will have tremendous choice in terms of the different APIs they can use and customise," he says.

Obviously, there will be some core elements they have to use, but flexibility seems to be something GREE is enthusiastic about.

"It's a lighter footprint [than OpenFeint] and there's much more developers will be able to do in terms of reskinning elements such as alerts and friends invites," Resmini says.

Doesn't ad up

One area already causing some discussions in the development community, however, is how it will handle in-game advertising.

A number of developers have told PocketGamer.biz that GREE isn't allowing in-game advertising, at least in launch games. Obviously, this is raising some concerns in terms of a loss of revenue.

Depending on the specific title, advertising can generate anything from 25 to 60 percent of a game's revenue.

Resmini says GREE hasn't yet formally decided what its policy will be in respect to advertising. It does run advertising on its Japanese platform, though, suggesting this issue is more a question of working out a deal with specific ad networks than the likelihood the platform will be ad-free.

"Adverts can disrupt the gameplay so we're thinking about how to deal with that," he adds.

Big beasts battle

Cash aside, there's the issue that ads provide an opportunity for players to stop playing a game and leave the GREE Platform; something the company will obviously want to minimise.

Indeed, with platforms being one of the key trends of GDC 2012, Resmini is happy to talk about the bigger picture.

With the likes of DeNA, Facebook and Zynga all now fighting for mobile gamers' attention, the competition is going to be fierce.

"I don't think there will be many companies in this space. When it comes to building a social graph, people don't want many of them," Resmini ponders.

"Obviously Mobage [DeNA] is a direct competitor, but I think Facebook is still figuring out mobile.

"There's also Zynga, and other companies could offer something similar. But there's certainly a winner-takes-all mentality when it comes to platforms."

The picture isn't black or white, however, as GREE will include support for Facebook Connect within its platform

Developers, developers, developers

Success will boil down to capturing a very large gaming audience and working hard to attract developers; both things at which GREE and OpenFeint have proven experience.

"Scale and capital will be vital in this space," Resmini says.

Putting this into context, GREE has said it will spend $50 million launching the platform marketing-wise, while CFO Naoki Aoyagi recently spoke about its goal of one billion users.

With his developer relations hat on, Resmini is also aware that developers - at least in terms of their games - will be specific drivers of scale.

That's why the company has been working hard on its launch games internally and externally, signing up the likes of Gameloft, Ubisoft and Haypi.

"We're cogniscient that we will have to be flexible. We'll launch the platform with a certain feature set and we'll be listening to the feedback of developers to build confidence in the platform," he explains.

"The point of a platform is that it provides a value-add to developers. We can provide more players and more insight into their behaviour."

The goal is better engagement with their games, and more revenue generated for developers, despite GREE taking its split of the virtual currency transactions.

No doubt, we'll get more details about how it will all work in the coming weeks.